Gone, Gone from NYC
by ifelthope
Summary: Rory's landed a job in New York City, it just so happens that a certain someone has also made his way back as well. Will their lives intertwine once again? NYC may not be as large as it seems. Literati, hopefully.
1. Back from Suffragette City

A/N: I just thought that it was about time Rory and Jess's lives intertwine once again.

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**Chapter 1: Back from Suffragette City**

"It's small," The bright blue-eyed girl toured the last apartment available on her list.

A voice came through the cell phone in her hand, "…quaint, charming, cozy."

"Mom," The young woman flipped the light switch in the laughably 'quaint' kitchen space.

"Well Hun, right now you just really need a place. This one is in your budget, an easy subway ride to work, in a decent neighborhood…you won't be running into Angie, Brad and the kids, but the good coffee place is just a few buildings down."

"True," She looked out the window into the busy afternoon New York City street.

"And, I mean, you don't_ have to_ get a place on your own," The voice hid a chuckle, " Your grandparent's place on the Upper East Side will always be there."

She could hear her mother smirking through the phone, "That's not funny mom," She opened a closet, "I'm getting a place."

"Did you get a chance to schmooze with the neighbors?" Something rattled in the background.

"Not really, It's been pretty quiet so far," She noticed the exceptionally clean and well-lit bathroom, definitely a Pro.

"Ninjas?"

"Shaolin Preists."

"What kind of vibe are you getting?" Her mother's voice grew louder to compensate for the background noise of people talking.

"I'm getting a Thai takeout kind of vibe," She noticed the well kept hardwood floors.

"Mmm, tastes like a good vibe. What's the book capacity?"

"Actually it's really good. It's a one bedroom, but has an exceptionally roomy living area space. And it has great floors."

"What a grown-up thing to say, 'Great floors!' Now the most important question whenever considering a new place of residence..." Her mother's tone was serious, "Was it built upon an Indian burial ground?"

"No it was not built on an Indian burial ground…however it was built on a Native American burial ground," She corrected her mother.

"Listen here missy, we don't correct when it comes to killer houses! You wouldn't want to be in Margot Kidder's shoes, would you?"

"Margot Kidder? No, but possibly the remake," She laughed.

"Ah yes, true kryptonite. Ryan Reynolds shirtless with an axe, god bless Canada."

She noticed the built-in shelf, "It comes with built in shelves, perfect for books."

"Well, it sounds like you've made your decision."

"It does?"

"You're picturing your books there," Her mother said in a knowing manner.

Taking the book out of her purse, she placed it on the built-in shelf, 'The Subsect' seemed to fit in perfectly, "You're right! I found an apartment!"

"Yay! You're gonna be a New Yorker," A beep came through with her mother's voice, "Oh, that's probably Michele, he's been calling nonstop from the Inn."

"Do you have to get it? I won't be able to talk to you until tomorrow night! And the time change thing always messes me up."

"Nah! How else will he learn? Plus, I'm going to board soon."

"So you're liking the part-time gig?"

"Yes. You know I never seriously considered the job at all when they first offered, but now it's amazing. I get to travel one weekend a month to tell other people how to run their inns? I'm like Gordon Ramsay without the Kitchen Nightmares," Her mother raved, "Plus, I have an expense account."

"I'm so proud of you, Mom. Have I told you that lately?"

"Right back at cha, kiddo."

"I think I'm going to sign for this place now," She was confident in her decision, "Pros outweigh the Cons tenfold."

"Okay kid, they're calling my flight to board. But leave me a message about the move-in date, I'll be damned if I'm not one of the first to taste the Thai takeout vibe with you!"

"Okay mom, I love you! Be safe! Check for snakes!"

"I love you too child o' mine. Bye, Rory."

"Bye Mom," She had a place of her own.

As she took the book off the shelf, an envelope fell out from between the pages. It was a letter addressed to her, from Jess. She put it back into her purse, where she always kept it. She knew it was a girl thing and that she was being silly, but now that she was really going to be living in New York, she felt closer to him.

She had wanted to call and tell him that she was moving to New York, but his cell phone never got reception and the publishing house was in the middle of moving to a new location and there were the million more excuses she thought of. The last time they had seen each other was a few months ago in DC. They met for lunch and talked about everything, and he had even mentioned the girl he was dating, she was a poet. He never mentioned her in any of his letters, not once. But she liked that he had someone he could share his life with. He deserved that.

Rory's phone buzzed, she had a new text message from her mother. It read, 'Told me to turn this off! No snakes yet! So proud of you!'

Rory Gilmore took one last look at the place, and went to sign the lease...and then get some coffee.

---

"Chris, it's fine. The space looks fine. Matthew and I have it under control," A dark haired young man exited a small store, "Fine, wait let me send you a picture."

He positioned his cell phone facing the small store front, making sure to get all the letters of the sign in the photo. He snapped the picture and hit send.

The phone in his hand buzzed, he answered, "What do you mean it looks pretentious? How is 'Bookman Old Style' font suddenly pretentious?"

Matthew opened the door, "Remind him he picked out the font."

"You picked out the font Chris, it's fine. Yeah, we're sending out the invitations today," He mouthed the word 'invitations' to Matthew who gestured that they were ready.

"Alright. Bye," He hung up the phone.

"Truncheon Books, NYC," Matthew read the sign aloud, "Has a nice ring to it."

"It does," He said with pride.

"I'm gonna check out that coffee place we passed by earlier," Matthew lit a cigarette, "You want anything, Jess?"

"I'm good, thanks."

Jess Mariano looked around at the busy New York City street, the concrete jungle welcoming him home.

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Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated.


	2. An Occasional Dream of Mine

A/N: Thank-you everyone who read, reviewed, and hello to those of you who've subscribed.

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**Chapter 2: An Occasional Dream of Mine**

_She was late. Gathering all her papers off the grass… how did they end up there? No matter, she was running terribly late! The Subway train! Was that Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne? She was so late, this was not a good start for her new job, were these seats made of Mallomars? Oh god, she was so late. Where had her papers gone? And why was her briefcase filled with Luke's Special Omelets? _

"_Rory?" a voice called out to her. She turned her head and there sitting on the subway seat next to her was Jess, but he wasn't Jess, he was the kid that her mother hated from all those Proactive commercials with the fake pimples.  
_

"_I'm sorry Jess, I would love to talk but I'm terribly late," She got pushed around in her seat as the train stopped, "And this is my stop."_

"_Rory," Jess put his hand out to reach for her arm, "Your appointment's with me."_

_Rory looked at her watch, the hands weren't moving, but were pointed to 'Jess' which had replaced the number 3 on the dial._

"_Rory," The kid smiled Jess's crooked smile._

"Rory, doll, wake up," Her mother poked and prodded her in bed.

She opened her eyes, "Omelets…I'm late!"

"Are you in fact carrying Ted Mosby's child?" Lorelai sat on the bed, "You better tell me how you met, dammit!"

Rory wiped the sleep from her eyes, and pushed her mother's index finger out of her face.

"Mom?" Rory was confused for a second, "You're in New York."

"Well, I'll be damned," Her mother looked around the room shocked, "And here I was thinking this was Emerald City, I knew I shouldn't have trusted those dancing and singing midgets in Hartford!"

"I didn't know you were coming, you didn't steal a pair of slippers off a corpse did you?" Rory smiled.

"No, these were off a Skeleton on 5th," Lorelai stuck her foot next to Rory's face, "I got your message, and of course your Grandmother would insist on hiring you professionals, but since I had already planned to take the day off to help you move… here I am!"

"You knew Grandma would hire movers for me," Rory pulled the covers back up.

Like a magician, Lorelai pulled the comforter off the bed in one swoop, "And now for my next trick, I will attempt to saw my lovely daughter in half!"

Rory groaned, and curled up into a ball.

Her mother grinned, "Now that you're up, Ms. Golightly shall we?"

Rory begrudgingly got up and Lorelai made her way to the kitchen, "And, let's stop by that good coffee place too."

Rory opened a box labeled 'bedroom-clothes #2' and took out a pair of old jeans, and a light tank. Summer was winding down, but the city was still going through a quasi heat wave.

"Where's the syrup?" Lorelai called out from the kitchen.

"I don't have syrup!" Rory turned off the light in the bathroom, and toweled her face.

"This is unacceptable, how are you supposed to have frozen waffles without syrup," Lorelai masked her disappointment.

"We can get syrup on the way back." Rory put on her shoes.

"Fine," Lorelai sniffed the air.

Rory stood in the doorway, "What'd I tell ya?"

"Definitely a Thai takeout vibe."

"Oh, I want some pad thai."

"Is there a place nearby?"

Rory grabbed a takeout menu from the doorknob handle and waved it in the air.

"New York is so cool," Lorelai gushed as she grabbed the menu on her way out the door.

"It's open twenty-four hours"

---

"You know, you could just call her back," Matthew stood in front of Jess's workspace, "God forbid you actually talk to the girl."

Jess put his phone back into his pants pocket.

"Don't you have shelves to put up?" Jess crossed his arms.

"Hey, I'm only looking out for your best interests, listening to a message for the 60th time isn't healthy…for anybody," Matthew put his hand on Jess's shoulder, a reassuring gesture.

Jess looked at Matthew, "Will you go unpack the last of the boxes, already?"

Matthew smiled, "I'm just saying…" as he walked into the front part of what was Truncheon Books, NYC, "It's been two months."

Jess took out his phone, his voicemail still on the line…he hit the '3' on the keypad.

"Oh, that was fast…" the message began, "Well, you're probably busy and stuff, what with all the moving and things like that…I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be in Stars Hallow for the summer. So, I'll be …in Stars Hollow…and um, it was good to see you…this message probably sounds stupid. I'm going to stop now."

His crooked smile faded as his cell phone screen flashed 'One Missed Call, Ellie.'

Just then Matthew walked back into the room, "Yeah, yeah he's around here somewhere…"

Jess internally groaned.

Matthew covered the phone with one hand and mouthed "ELLIE"

Jess shook his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry Elle, yeah, I'll tell him you called…yeah…alright. Of course not. No. Alright, I promise. Fine, I won't sell my soul to the dispassionate of Manhattan," he ended the call and was thoroughly relieved.

Jess slumped over the desk.

"She really hates Manhattan," Matthew nicked the apple off of Jess's desk.

"So, I've heard," Jess's voice vibrated over the pile of invitations and envelopes announcing Truncheon Books, NYC's launching party.

"Have you told her about the offer that studio suit made?" Matthew wiped the apple clean on his shirt.

Jess mumbled something incoherently that sounded like an expletive and then a 'no.'

"Have you sent her an invitation?" Matthew bit into the apple.

"She knows about it."

"But have you sent out the formal invitation?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm just trying to figure things out," Matthew wiped his mouth with his sleeve, "On the one hand – there's Ellie, and she's great, don't get me wrong…but it just seems like she's…"

"Gone off her meds?" Jess blurted out.

"I was going to say upset about you spending so much time in New York," Matthew smirked, "But more or less."

"I don't know," Jess began, "I need some coffee."

Matthew threw the apple core into the garbage, "There's a really decent place around the corner."

Jess's cell buzzed again, it read: 'One new voicemail'

"Maybe something stronger than coffee?" Matthew offered.

---

"Oh, what about Pizazz and Stormer?" Lorelai offered.

"I never liked Pizazz's surly demeanor," Rory commented as they walked a few buildings down to the good coffee place.

Lorelai fanned herself, "But I look best in black sequins!"

Rory reconsidered, "You do."

Lorelai stopped in front of a consignment store window, letting Rory walk a few paces ahead, "Rory, look!"

Rory whipped her head around, her mother left behind, "Something shiny?"

Lorelai's eyes took in the creation in window, a strapless black sequins mini-dress paired with sequins embellished Louboutins, "Very very shiny, very very made for me!"

Used to getting sidetracked by her mother's penchant for shiny window displays, Rory asked, "Where would you wear it to?"

"Um, Grocery shopping!" Lorelai instantly exclaimed, "Grab David Beckham and start calling me Vicky B."

"Where else would you wear it to?"

"Everywhere."

"Like…"

"Like everywhere!"

Rory wanted so badly to be in her nice air conditioned apartment in her nice soft bed, "Let's get coffee first, then you can try it on, on our way back."

Lorelai gasped, "Well…alright, as long as you promise!"

"I promise," Rory took her mother's hand and lead her across the street to the coffee shop.

Not even a few seconds in the cafe before a familiar face greeted them, "Lorelai?"

Catching both Lorelai and Rory by surprise, Lorelai jumped causing an old man to release his cane in mid-air, it crashed to the floor.

"Oh, my, god!" Lorelai smiled widely.

---

"Are you coming in or not?" Matthew took cover in the shade of an awning.

Jess was tapping his cell phone against his temple, maybe if he tapped enough times he could meld what he wanted to say into a text message and send it neatly in 160 characters or less.

"Give me a minute," Jess stood on the corner near the coffee shop, "This has been bugging me."

Matthew exhaled, "Bugging you? It's bugging all of us!"

Jess gave Matthew _the look_, "What are you saying?"

"Nothing, I'm staying out of it!" Matthew waved the white-flag, "Are you coming in or not?"

"Give me a sec," Jess pressed the buttons to unlock the cell phone, "I have to make a call."

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A/N: Please Review, let me know what you think. Thanks.


	3. Oh Is There Concrete All Around

A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed. Reviews really mean a lot! Sorry for being so slow on the uptake. This is a short chapter to get things moving.

deborah misfit I totally understand what you mean, hopefully this chapter won't be as hard to follow.

She's_Not_There That's exactly why I've never published any GG fics before! But I figured it takes a little bit of tinkering with the characters and dialogue to get them at that believable non-forced place.

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Chapter 3: Oh Is There Concrete All Around

"Lorelai?"

"Alex!" Lorelai stood shocked.

"You grew a mustache," Lorelai was shocked not speechless, "It's not quite the Chuck Norris, but you're getting there."

"Thank-you," he touched his mouth absentmindedly and tuned to see Rory, "Rory, it's good to see you both."

Rory smiled, as she looked around she put two and two together, "Is this your place?"

Alex smiled, "Actually, it's just one of the places."

Lorelai took a moment to breathe.

"It's amazing," Lorelai beamed, "We've come before, and never knew this was your place!"

"I've got to come around more often," Alex smiled at Lorelai.

"I gotta tell Fat Sal the news!"

Alex shook his head, "No need, Fat Sal's in the back, I've got him on the grind."

Rory stood politely, her nose drifting towards the counter. Alex moved towards her mother and in Rory's sight line was the most beautiful espresso machine she had ever seen, except for the ones in Italy, of course.

"Anything you girls want it's on the house," the key to any Gilmore girl's heart.

Lorelai looked around the café, "That sofa is looking mighty comfy, Alex."

Alex smiled, "Anything on the _menu_."

Rory moved to order as Lorelai played catch-up with an old friend. Rory ordered two large house blends.

"Congratulations Alex," Lorelai looked at the art work displayed throughout the café, "You did it."

Alex shook his head in a pseudo-humble way and smiled, "Coming from you, that means a lot. The Dragonfly isn't so bad either."

"It's a step-up from the crap shack, we try."

Rory went to check out the café's communal bookshelf, she noticed a lot of independently published novellas and a coffee smattered copy of a philosophy book that looked promising. She made a mental note to place a copy of 'The Subsect' on the shelf next time she came.

"Melanie Daniels?" Alex held out a cup of coffee for Rory.

"There was a vicious looking pigeon out there," Rory took the cup

"Your mom tells me you're working in Manhattan? You should check out our shop in the Village."

"I definitely will," Rory took a sip, "Do you have other locations in New York?"

"Just the two, but there's an investor who would like to work with us in Chelsea."

"I have some friends who are in Chelsea now," Rory made another mental note to call Lucy and Olivia when she got home.

"I think I might have to give your mom that sofa," both Alex and Rory looked at Lorelai sprawled out over the sofa arms.

"Oh, it's a done deal." Rory smiled.

---

"So what did she say?" Matthew asked Jess, they were back in the office after a solemn walk from the café a few buildings down.

"I couldn't get through to her, she must have gotten a new phone." Jess admitted more for his own sake.

"You didn't leave a message?"

"Leaving a message on that house machine is asking for it," Jess remembered all the mocking that went on of those who dared to leave messages on _that_ machine.

"So, Ellie got a new phone and didn't tell you about it?" Matthew asked confused.

"What?" Jess had not been talking about Ellie.

"Ellie, you know… your girlfriend?"

"She is not my girlfriend," Jess changed the subject and put his cell phone down on his desk.

"Whatever," Matthew walked over to his side of the office, "just because you don't define it, it doesn't make her less of your girlfriend."

"We've gone out, we're _dating_," Jess didn't like the taste of that word either.

"Nobody just dates for 7 months."

Jess started sorting through address labels for the invitations to Truncheon Books, NYC's launching party, "We dated for 4 months."

"I count the 2 months of being in New York," Matthew nodded to himself.

"Whatever, man." Jess started going down the checklist of invitees.

Jess's cell began to buzz, he swallowed but the screen read ELLIE. For a second he thought it might have been her.

"And for not being your girlfriend, she sure does call you like she's your girlfriend!" Matthew walked out of the office space.

Jess lingered over one address label that wasn't on the company list of invitees. It was addressed to Rory Gilmore.

Jess let the call go to voicemail.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope that clears up the Jess/Ellie relationship.

Next chapter might have some literati interaction…maybe? :)


	4. Rebel Rebel, How Could They Know

A/N: Thank-you to all who have been reading and reviewing! And hello to everyone just joining us.  
Also, thank-you everyone who has added this story to their faves or alerts, you guys are so great.

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**Chapter 4: Rebel, Rebel How could they know?  
**

"Can you believe it?" Lorelai repeated for the fifth time in one phone call.

"Well, the probability that you run into someone you know in New York City is actually not as low as you'd expect," Rory spoke into the phone resting on the counter top. In her left hand was a carton of Hubby-Hubby and in her right was the chocolate syrup bottle.

"I know that, I went to business school," Empty squirting could be heard from Lorelai's end of the phone, "Aw, I'm out."

"Well that's too bad," Rory chirped, "Because I just so happen to have a full bottle."

More empty squirting noises erupted from the other end of the phone line.

"And," Rory continued, "I have sprinkles… from France!"

"Oh, Ms. Gloaty McGloatster…"

"Gloaty McGloatster?"

"…There seems to be a fresh Weston's Special Apple-Cinnamon pie just sitting on my dining room table."

"Hey! Who's Gloaty McGloatster now?"

"Yes, but I'm Lorelai Victoria Gilmore and such rules don't apply to me."

"What?" Rory poured some chocolate syrup straight into her mouth.

"Yep! As the more mature one of us, I can make such statements."

"Really?" Rory said in disbelief, "the 'more mature' one?"

Lorelai scoffed, "Well then, as the reigning Lorelai, I proclaim it!"

"Hey that's not fair."

"I can play the 'reigning Lorelai' card until I expire, those are the rules."

Rory squirt more chocolate syrup into the tub of Hubby-Hubby and took a spoonful.

"Mmm," Rory savored the ice cream, "I like it with syrup."

"Me too," Lorelai agreed, "I PROCLAIM IT!"

"Mom."

"What?" Lorelai oozed innocence.

"You can't just proclaim everything you say."

"As the self-proclaimed monarch_**, **_I will proclaim whatever I want. I proclaim it!"

Rory sighed.

"Oh daughter, thou doth protest too much," Lorelai's accent grew british.

"You sound like Dame Edna."

"She's a Dame!"

"She's austrailian."

"Oh, Well. Methinks thou should gather thy mail."

"Why?" Rory speculated, "Did you send me another copy of the Ugly Baby again!?"

"Hey," Lorelai chuckled at her latest great prank, "Kirk was the one who gave out the coupons for 'Five Free Color Copies' that didn't specify if it was one per customer."

"You didn't have to use twenty of them!" Rory took her mother off of speaker phone and held her cell phone up to her ear with her shoulder.

"Of course I did, how else was I supposed to make one hundred color copies of the Ugly Baby?" Lorelai stated matter-of-factly, "I just got around to forwarding some of your mail."

Rory was already making her way downstairs to her mailbox, managing to balance the phone, ice cream tub and chocolate syrup bottle.

"Should the Ugly Baby happen to be in between the pages of a Yale Alumni Newsletter…" Lorelai laughed.

Rory unlocked her mailbox and a black and white postcard fell to the floor. She picked it up and was able to hold just about everything so long as the syrup bottle didn't fall off the top of the mail pile in her arms.

Lorelai went on to talking about her second first date with Alex and Rory pretended to listen to the same story for the sixth time. Dropping her arms' contents onto the kitchen counter the same black and white post card fell to the floor again.

"Oh, and Alex told me to tell you that there's a reading happening at the café in the Village tomorrow night, it would be the perfect time for you to check out the place."

"Oh yeah, that would be great, I'll see if Lucy and Olivia want to go," Rory flipped over a magazine, "Mom, some of this mail is from months ago!"

"Hey don't insult lucky Silver Shoe."

"Stars Hollow still using the Pony Express?"

"The original."

Rory picked up the post card from the floor.

The post card was larger than she thought it was, the front was a black and white picture of piles of old hardbound books. Rory thought she could make out what looked like a Hemmingway novel; it reminded her of a boy she'd been thinking about a lot lately. On the back was an Invitation to Truncheon Books, NYC launching party. She swallowed.

"Rory?" Lorelai's voice was small now. Rory had dropped the phone onto the countertop.

"Jess."

---

Matthew stood at the end of Jess's desk.

"No."

"Jess, you have to do it. They specifically invited you."

"So?"

"I get our coffee at this place. They are great. The least you could do is read something at their salon."

"Who says salon anymore? What is this, the 1800s?"

"C'mon, Jess."

"No."

"Please?"

"Fine."

"REALLY?"

"No."

"I thought you'd like their usage of the word 'Salon.'"

"Oh, I do."

---

"Wow," Both Olivia and Lucy added.

"Yep," Rory finished with her long confession about her former beau, Jess Mariano.

"And the launching of his publishing company in New York is next weekend?" Lucy repeated.

"Yep," Rory confirmed.

Olivia stopped walking and stood under a street lamp to find her chapstick in her purse, "And you're going?"

"I don't know, I mean, I want to… I should," Rory debated, "I should go."

"So why is it a launch party, if Truncheon Books is already established in Philly?" Lucy asked while primping in the window of a closed store.

"A big publishing house saw the work they produced and offered to take them on as a smaller imprint," Rory explained, "Now some things they publish can be _wherever books are sold_."

"So it's like working for the man but keeping your street cred," Olivia offered.

"I can't believe you didn't bring pictures, I don't know if I could see you dating James Dean," Lucy said, "I can see James Dean wanting you, but I don't see you giving him the time of day."

"He must've been cute," Olivia suggested, "Like James Dean-_James Dean_."

Rory blushed and put her index finger to her nose.

"Wow," Both Olivia and Lucy added.

Rory loved the city at night, all the lights and 24-hour stores that were actually open 24 hours.

"Maybe Bubblegum Boy will show at this reading," Lucy speculated, checking her hair once again in a shop window.

"Who's…" Rory began.

"He's a grad student at NYU," Olivia explained, "He's stalking Lucy."

"He wants me to be his muse, and star in his art films."

"Another one?" Rory asked. This was the second Lucy stalker this month.

"She's a stalker magnet."

"Maybe I should've worn a longer skirt," Lucy tried to pull her miniskirt down.

"It's at a respectable slutty level," Olivia observed, "Plus, the building is already 3 blocks away. We've gone too far."

"What do you think Rory?"

"I'm pretty sure we're only a two blocks away from your building."

"No silly," Lucy twirled, "About my skirt."

"Oh," Rory inspected, "Just slutty enough."

Olivia stopped, "Is that the place?" She pointed to a small café sandwiched between a boutique and an art gallery.

"Yep," Rory and the two girls crossed the street.

The small shop wasn't as bright as Alex's shop in Williamsburg had been; it was much darker and full of exposed brick. Rory could just imagine a myriad of writers putting in hours of scribbling into moleskin notebooks at this place.

"Wow," Olivia commented, impressed.

"This is a lot of people," Rory agreed, the chairs that had been set up on one side of the café were filled, there were hardly any seats available.

"Over here!" Lucy stage whispered from the other side of the café. She had found three seats in an obscure corner on the other side of the café.

"Do you think this is far enough?" Rory looked at Olivia. They recalled the heckling incident from a few weeks ago when they went to see one of Lucy's friends perform an off-off-off-broadway interpretive dance rendition of 'Fiddler On The Roof.'

"Hey," Lucy sat down, "As long as there are no little people smothering themselves with paint and climbing into a vat of dry macaroni, I think we're good."

"I believe I've got the first round," Olivia stood up, "everyone ordering their usual? Or are we celebrating St. Patty's Day tonight?"

"I thought St. Patty's Day was our usual?" Rory grinned.

"Oh, if they have any of those iced lemon bars, I'd like two," Lucy smiled big.

"Lemon bars, check. And you, Rory?"

"The vegan nachos," Rory remembered Alex's recommendation, "And tell the barista Alex sent you."

---

"Look, I got a text and they've got a café full of literature freaks waiting for you," Matthew waved his phone in Jess's face.

"Literature freaks?" Jess stood at the door.

"What? They're _your_ fans," Matthew handed Jess his coat.

"Fans?" Jess asked incredulously.

"What? You didn't know you had fans? There are blogs dedicated to _the subsect._ Jesus."

"Well, if there are blogs, then.."

"So you'll go?" Matthew looked stunned.

"I said I'd go."

"No you didn't!"

"Oh, well, I guess I forgot to tell you," Jess looked at Matthew, "Well, let's go. C'mon Matthew, there are fans waiting for me."

Matthew's mouth fell open.

Jess stood at the door with his coat on ready to go and tapped on his watch, "Time's a-wasting."

Matthew mumbled incoherently as he ran to get his coat on.

---

"So, cute barista, complementary food thanks to Alex, and a not so terrible gathering of actually talented lit freaks," Olivia accessed, "I think this counts as not a bad night."

"We're balancing out! Hopefully we never decide to go to an Aviary, ever again." Lucy finished the last of her lemon bars.

"Lit freaks?" Rory commented.

"To the lit freaks!" Olivia lifted her mug up to toast.

"Here, here!" Lucy raised her glass and Rory did the same.

"Oh, Garfunkel is gonna say something," Lucy pointed to the man who had been calling up people to the stage all night, who she had forevermore dubbed 'Garfunkel.'

"…I know you're as excited as I am to welcome for the first time, hopefully not the last, the author of…" Garfunkel's mic had been cutting off all night, "…riano!"

The crowed clapped more enthusiastically than they had the whole night.

"Who?" Lucy asked.

"Dunno, but holy hell these nachos are the best, ever." Olivia bobbed her head along to the crunching of the nachos she ate. She had been celebrating St. Patty's.

A man took to the stage with a book in his hand, and a crooked smile on his face.

"Hey!" Lucy whispered, "He looks like James Dean!"

"I'd eat nachos off of that," Olivia moved her eyebrows suggestively.

"Wo Rey." Rory said with a mouthful of nachos.

* * *

A/N: Rory was trying to say "No Way", in case you were wondering.

And YES it is who you think it is.  
And YES the literati action is coming, and some surprises as well :)  
And YES you should definitely hit that button below with the green words on it  
some examples of what you could write in the box:  
- where you think this is going  
- how you think Rory's going to act (should she run down the street ___à la_ season 4?)  
- favorite lines  
- least favorite lines  
- if you're watching heroes and saw that sylar/peter fight ;)  
(Have I mentioned that reviews are THE BEST motivation, ever)

&Happy Holidays everyone! And good luck with finals (to those like myself, must suffer through final exams before the fun holiday stuff.)


	5. In walked luck and you looked in time

A/N: A huge thank-you to those who have been reviewing / subscribing / favorite-ing / alerting. You're all wonderful people!  
Apologies for the hiatus.

* * *

**Chapter 5: In walked luck and you looked in time**

This wasn't happening.

At least, this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to have run into him when she was ready, when she had ample time to prepare, when she had borrowed her mother's new sparkly dress, when she had on cleaner clothes. Oh, god! How she wished she had cleaner clothes on!

"Damn the laundry machines!" Rory whispered a bit loudly. She had been celebrating St. Patty's Day too.

Lucy turned to face Rory. Lucy put her fingers up to Rory's mouth, "Shhhh. Reincarnated. James. Dean. Is. Going. To. Start. Talking."

"Rory, your face is really pink," Olivia held up a nacho to her face, "No, red. Like salsa." Olivia whispered the last part.

Somewhere in the café someone shushed them.

Jess stood on the small platform. He stood just as he had been standing on small platforms in front of groups of people for the past few years. Jess had been doing readings since both Matthew and Chris started noticing that as an author, Jess had built up a small following. People had even started blogging about his work. This didn't mean much to Jess, but it had both Matthew and Chris ecstatic.

"Sorry. I can't share new material right now," Jess began, "legally bound."

He began to read a passage of _the subsect_ and everyone in the café fell in love with him.

No, really. Rory was sure of it.

The cute barista, the lit freaks, the one guy who was wearing extremely tight bicycle shorts, Lucy, Olivia, the guy at the table on the right who is definitely one of Lucy's grad school stalkers, and hell even Garfunkel looked absolutely giddy. Rory wanted to throw-up.

This, Rory realized, was exactly why Jess kept to a mono-syllabic vocabulary. For fear the whole would fall in love with him. Maybe she was going too far…oxygen deficiency.

"This night totally makes up for the Aviary," Lucy sighed.

"Way tastier than the Aviary," Olivia agreed.

"Uh-huh," Rory tried to muster up any enthusiasm. Luckily Lucy and Olivia didn't notice. They were busy noticing other things…

Rory couldn't help but notice either.

Jess looked at the crowd of people gathered at this café. He hated to admit it, but he loved that in these few minutes people were actually listening to him. They didn't have to listen to him. They had free will. They could leave at anytime, but they chose to stay and listen to him (at least they did most of the time).

"Thank you," he smiled and nodded his head. Rory could swear she heard some girls (and boys) from NYU swoon.

"Seriously," Olivia licked a bit of Nacho cheese off her fingers, "Just serve him on a dish."

"Scrumptious," Lucy agreed.

Jess was making his way off of the small make-shift stage, and he would see her. He would see her in her wrinkly old clothes. Since when did she even care about her clothes this much? Damn those issues of Vogue and Elle and W magazine! She should be more prepared about situations like this. He was going to see her…. Jess looked at her. Well, looked at her general direction. Had he seen her? Could he see this far? How close was that stage anyway? Fifty feet? Thirty feet? Why couldn't she have been born with automatic depth perception? It was dark… maybe he didn't see her.

"Excuse me," Rory swiftly stood up and held her cell phone in the air as if to signal to Lucy and Olivia that by some immaculate power someone was going to call her in the next few seconds and save her from what could be the most unprepared running into of her entire life. Even more unprepared than the time she bumped into Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs twice in one day on the subway. Nick had smiled at her and she had mumbled incoherently about his tight pants. Rory slapped her forehead with her palm.

Nick Zinner was an accomplished photographer, a child of Harvard Professor, and a damn good guitar player. Okay, so she had a huge crush on him when she was 15. But this was Jess not Nick Zinner. Okay, so they had similar qualities.

Rory made her way out the front door, keeping her head down as if she were just another person going to make a phone call. She went to the patio area and sat on a wiry chair. The metal was cool against her thighs, only making it so evident that she was on fire. He had always had this effect on her; it made her warm and it made her stupid.

Rory smacked her head into her forehead.

"Ouch," Rory realized she was now unprepared and would have a palm shaped red mark on her forehead.

And then it happened.

Her cell phone rang. It was a godsend.

"Hello?"

"Rory! Darling, it's your Grandmother!" Emily's voice rang true.

Maybe not a godsend, but she'd take what she could get.

"I tried to leave a message on your machine, but I kept getting the answering machine to an exotic bird show!"

Rory laughed, her mother had remixed her answering machine greeting.

"You should really call your Telephone Company about that," Emily suggested, "Anyway, I was calling to remind you about the Guggenheim Gala your Grandfather and I had tickets for. I know you haven't had a chance to go and it appears that we won't be able to get into the City on the weekend. We were hoping that you'd attend in our stead?"

"Oh of course, Grandma. I've been dying to get to the Guggenheim."

"Wonderful!" Emily exclaimed, "Anyway, the tickets were for two, but we were able to give a ticket to one of your Grandfather's associate's grandson! Can you believe that? What a gentleman."

"This sounds an awful lot like a set up," Rory sighed.

"No, I believe you know the boy, from Chilton," Emily replied, someone else on her end started whispering about something, "Yes, Richard, she'll go!"

Rory cringed a little at the C-word, "What boy from Chilton, Grandma?"

"Oh you'll have a much better time that we'd ever have, all that new age contemporary…I'll have a courier drop the invitation off in the afternoon."

"Grandma!" Rory said more loudly that she had planned for.

"Don't worry about a Dress. Miss Celine has your size, and she's already sent a courier with a few outfits for you to choose from," Emily's voice also grew louder, "Wonderful."

"Grandma, why is she already sending me dresses when I've only just accepted the invitation?" Rory was tipsy, but not that tipsy.

"You'll have a marvelous time, now the car will pick your date up at seven o'clock sharp and you around seven-fifteen. So you have nothing to worry about."

"DATE? What date? Who's this date?"

"Oh, Rory, we won't be able to talk to you until the weekend, your Grandfather's cousin needs us to go to their cottage in the Poconos, we'll be out of service range. But just leave a voicemail and I'll call you as soon as I reach a landline, god-willing."

"Grandma, who've you set–"

"Oh, you know we love you Rory! Have a marvelous time!"

Emily Gilmore hung up on her only Granddaughter.

"Thanks a lot, Grandma..."

Rory groaned, the wiry chair had made a wiry chair imprint on the back of her legs, and it itched. And she hated her crumply clothes. And her Grandma was setting her up, _again_. And it was someone with Chilton. She hadn't used the 'C' word in a while. And she hoped to god that the next time she ran into Jess Mariano, she didn't smell like vegan salsa and Irish coffee.

"Rory."

"Flapjacks!" She cursed, mostly for her own benefit.

Rory stood up. She turned around and there leaning against the doorframe was Jess. Rory could tell he was nervous. More than she would have expected him to be. He had his left hand in his pants pocket and his right hand clutched onto a copy of what looked like a manuscript.

He saw her.

"Saw you sneak out," Jess offered. He tasted her mood and slowly made his way towards her. He moved unlike a predator, and more like a child.

"Phone call," Rory spoke softly, "I, I didn't want to bother you, or get trampled by fan girls."

"By all means," he stood in front of her, "bother away."

He looked good. Scratch that, he looked amazing.

"I had no idea you'd be the main event. Of all the coffee shops," Rory looked everywhere except for directly at his eyes.

Jess couldn't help but keep focused on her eyes, "Of all the coffee shops, in all of New York City. It must be fate, Rory Gilmore."

Rory laughed, "Jess, you don't believe in fate."

"On the contrary, I have no qualms about it," Jess gripped the papers in his hands tightly.

"So," Jess hesitated, "What did you think?"

Rory scrunched her face, "You really want to know?"

"Well I'm guessing not well considering your exit-strategy."

"You were great," Rory's gaze finally landed on his eyes.

"Honest?"

"Scout's honor," Rory held her hand up in oath.

Jess smiled. Rory died. Okay, so she was still alive. But she could've died of heat stroke, the heat somehow focused in on the café's small outdoor patio.

"So, you made the move to the city…on your own?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, I'm in Brooklyn."

"Really?" She always caught him off guard.

"Yep. This coffee house has a sister there. My friends just so happen to live in Chelsea."

"Huh."

"I came with them, Olivia and Lucy. Girls night. They're great, and can usually hold their liquor."

"Oh, Yeah?"

"I was trying to make up for the Aviary trip we took two weeks ago. It was all birds and it was surprisingly hot. It wasn't good. I know exactly how Melanie Daniels felt."

"Classic Hitchcock."

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat. They both turned.

"Matthew, Rory. Rory, Matthew." Jess rolled his eyes.

"We've met…" Matthew grinned, "Rory, always a pleasure."

Rory went up to Matthew and they shook hands, "Good to see you again, Matthew."

Jess didn't like him touching her hand. Had he always been so jealous?

"I'm so sorry to…intrude, but we've got a very important meeting we need to get to."

Jess raised his eyebrow. Rory looked disappointed.

"The producer just arrived, he needs to talk to you," Matt told Jess, "We need to leave in five. Sorry, kids."

Jess gave him a look and Matt was out of there.

"Producer?" Rory asked.

"Yeah." Jess looked embarrassed.

"Are you writing a movie?" Rory got loud.

"_Wrote_ a movie," Jess grimaced, "I'm revising the shooting script."

Rory closed her mouth, unaware that it had been open for most of their conversation. Jess unclenched the papers he held. They were worn and marked up. Writing in the margins.

"Jess, that's incredible," Rory practically gushed, "I told you big things would happen."

"I'm pretty that was a fortune cookie from Mongolian Barbecue night at Al's Pancake World."

They both stood for a moment just looking at each other.

Jess sighed and opened his mouth to say something, "I'm –"

"You've got a meeting to get to," Rory tried to smile.

"I wish I didn't," Jess took a step closer to Rory. Jess could smell her light perfume and see the tip of her nose glisten.

Rory sighed.

"Breakfast, Thursday?" Jess said as fast as he could.

"Pencil me in," Rory smiled.

"Do you know El Beit?"

"JESS!" Matthew knocked on the window from inside the café. All of Jess's attention was wrapped in Rory's answer.

"Yeah," Rory looked at Matthew who looked like he was holding his breath.

"Eight o'clock?" Jess advanced in, he could taste her light perfume. Delicious.

"Yes. Eight," Rory laughed, "Jess, Matthew's about to burst."

"I'll be seeing you, Rory." Jess slowly made his way back towards the café door. Before he entered he turned back around and saw her once more.

For the first time in a long time, Rory Gilmore went all jelloid.

* * *

A/N: If you're unfamiliar with the term, I suggest you urban dictionary the term "jelloid."

&I'm glad some of you responded so well about having Olivia and Lucy appear! I love so many characters from the series, I wish they could all make an appearance!  
_Are there any characters you wish would be included in the Gilmore Girls universe more often?_

**Review**, please and thank-you.  
I love all of your feedback and take it all into consideration. Hint, Hint, nudge, nudge.

Thanks for reading!


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